 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh! news, tips, strategies and more! | |||||
|
|
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
|
Card Game Featured Writers Releases + Spoilers Anime Video Games Other
Magic
This Space |
 |
TheMcShakeAlchemist (Sean
Handy)
Gladiator Beasts
Hey everyone! I know I haven't done a formal article
in a while, but my testing has been going so well that I
figured I just had to share my findings in an article so
other people can see how they fare against the gauntlet with
my newest build of Gladiator Beasts.
Let me stop you right there, I know what you're thinking:
"Oh god, I never knew you were one of those people who just
think that Glads are the go-to every single format"
I assure you, I'm not. Right now, everything is
incredibly monster-effect based (with Chaos Dragons being
the sleeper breaking this rule), Gladiators are very well
positioned. First, here is my list:
Rabbit-Glads
Monsters (20)
3 Test Tiger
Spells (9)
2 Forbidden Lance
Traps (11)
2 Trap Stun
Extra deck (15)
2 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
My side deck has been constantly adapting, making it hard to
nail down the perfect 15. If I were to play this in a
large event tomorrow, I would sleeve up the following:
Side Deck (15)
2 Waboku
I know that some of the cards in the main deck and side deck
are a little wonky, so I am happy to explain the things that
I believe to be strange or abnormal.
The "Rabbit Engine": This helps you attack your
opponent from a different angle. It is relatively
difficult to board for Rescue Rabbit (the card) and
Gladiator Beasts (the deck). Effect Veiler is
generally pretty bad against you (unless they hit Gyzarus or
Rescue Rabbit), as the average stats of your dudes are
better than the average stats of say, Wind-Ups or the Level
4>= star monsters in Atlanteans outside of the extra deck.
Lack of Dark Hole in the main deck: This is a deck
that actually avoids over-extending and just protecting a
select couple of monsters. Dark Hole does not help
with this game plan, and you will generally have to use the
card as a 1-for-1 or a -1, and it just isn't worth it a lot
of the time. The sideboard is somewhat
transformational so it is still in the side deck. It
is the same reason there is a singular Torrential in the
main deck, since it can turn off big plays halfway through
an over-extension. Rabbit is a better Prisma, at the
moment, in my truthful opinion. Generally people want
to have their big early Gyzarus play via Elemental Hero
Prisma. For reference:
Summon Elemtal Hero Prisma
Activate Prisma, revealing Gyzarus and sending Gladiator
Beast Bestiari to the graveyard
Special Summon Test Tiger
Tribute Test Tiger, shuffling Gladiator Beast Bes-er
Elemental Hero Prisma into the deck
Special summon Gladiator Beast Darius
Glad Beast Darius's effect, special summon Bestiari from
your Graveyard
Tag the two out for Gyzarus
Rescue Rabbit can serve a similar purpose, but, doesn't fold
to the ever-popular Macro Cosmos. It also doesn't
force you to have a darius in deck. It just gives you
more options in general. Having Rescue Rabbit in your
deck also makes Trap Stun a bit stronger. Sometimes
you aren't sure if you should go into Laggia or Dolkka, but,
with this deck, the choice is generally much easier to make.
Got a Gladiator Beast War Chariot? Laggia it is.
Got a Trap Stun and Lance? Gonna have to go with
Dolkka on this one. The biggest drawback is that you
occassionally get the clunky Normal Monster opening hands.
The fact that every single one of your normies is a 1900 atk
beater mitigates this a bit, though.
My Body as a Shield: There are a lot of little things
that this negates that would surprise you. For
example, let's just look at the monsters this negates (that
Forbidden Lance doesn't)
-Evolzar Dolkka
It is slightly less versatile than Forbidden Lance (not a
very good combat trick), but, I have been very happy with My
Body as a Shield almost every time I've drawn it.
Gladiator Beast's Respite x1: This is something that I
just cannot justify cutting from the deck completely, albeit
it being pretty underwhelming a majority of the times that I
have drawn it. It fixes a lot of your opening hands,
and can generate a pretty good engine with Gladiator Beast
Equeste, it also puts Gladiator Beast Andal back in your
deck if you hit two Andals before your second Rescue Rabbit.
Essedari also helps cure the latter problem.
The Solemn Trio: Solemn Judgment is too pricy right
now. I like it in Dino Rabbits, but, outside of that
deck, I feel the life point cost WILL just kill you.
Atlanteans has too much power that it can just drop on to
the board out of nowhere and deal 4k+. I don't want any of
that business. Because of how often this deck deals in
the combat step, I don't want to have more than 1 Solemn
warning. You will generally hover around a dangerous
life total for the last half of the game or so.
Whenever you get a singular Solemn Warning, you are
generally pretty happy, but, the second can be brutal.
Gladiator Beast War Chariot x3: This card is insane
right now, and you always want it. It baits MST which
is generally a +1 for you, as you have Gladiator Beast
Equeste to get back the Chariot over and over and over.
It is bad if you get all 3 at once, I will concede that
point.
The Dimensional Prison/Mirrorforce split: I think that
Mirror Force is slightly better, and, more than likely I
should just be playing 2 Mirror Force, but, there are a lot
of times where the 'Prison is a huge blowout, with the
prevalence of Stardust Dragon and the like right now.
Such cards make me not want to completely cut the card.
Only 2 copies of Gladiator Beast Gyzarus: It is
honestly rare that you have the opportunity to go into
Gyzarus three times in this build, and I think the situation
has only arose once in about two months of tweaking the
deck. I wanted to find room for Blackship of Corn, and
my head kept telling me to cut Gyzarus (haven't regretted it
yet).
Waboku: This card is really, really good against all
of the various decks that plan to OTK you, while still
having synergy with your Gladiator Beasts. There are
some times that you just want this against Chaos Dragons,
because it allows your GBs to trigger without you losing
life or your monster. Chaos Dragons are where Gyzarus
is one of the most crucial cards, since your deck relies on
having marginally bigger monsters, but they have the bigger
monsters.
Dimensional Fissure over Macro Cosmos: It is annoying
that they still might trigger effects via Leviathan Dragon
or Abyss dweller, but, Heavy Infantry cannot trigger via
either of those cards, so Fissure is somewhat safe.
This biggest justification is you don't want your Chariot
getting removed from play, which Macro does. It is
also a nice bonus that you can play it to turn off Maxx C or
force Maxx C when about to have a big play.
Soul Drain: I only have 1 right now because I think
that the card isn't completely necessary, as you have
Chariot x3 and the ability to Dolkka relatively easy.
Not much to really say about it.
Neko Mane King: For the random Darkworld matches
you'll have, also good against Mermails, as they will
generally target monsters first in this deck with Atlantean
Marksman's effect.
Thunder King Rai-oh: This guy is just a really strong
way to open up. There are obviously other things that
could fill this spot, but in a deck that has as much back
row protection it is incredible to have a Thunder King on
turn 1 against a lot of the bigger decks. He was
originally in the main deck of a non-rabbit build of this
deck, but with the decline of Gadgets seeing play Rai-oh
because somewhat less valuable.
With the deck itself, you generally want to play more
conservative than anything. Sometimes you can just get
blown out by overextending too many monsters onto the field,
and it really doesn't hurt to just hold them in your hand.
Gladiator Beast's Respite is a real card, after all.
I'd say the hardest two decisions in the deck are:
1. Do I go into Laggia or Dolkka?
It's generally a difficult decision, because Laggia is the
easy, "safe" decision to make, but the time when Dolkka is
correct, your opponent is never able to recover.
Knowing when Dolkka is correct can be tough, because it
sucks when your opponent has the Dimensional Prison or
Mirror Force.
2. Do I go into Gladiator Beast Heraklinos or Shock Master?
Generally I have liked going into Shock Master more, since
you don't have to discard to negate things, but, there are
times where having a 3k beatstick can just take the game
away from a Chaos Dragon player. Sometimes it's really
easy to tell that it should be Shock Master (your opponent
has 1 card in hand, 1 facedown monster, nothing else).
Other times you aren't quite sure (your opponent has 3 cards
in hand, etc.). One thing to factor in is the
difference between having monsters in your graveyard, rather
than in your deck. Having the ability to use Darius
tricks is pretty huge.
This deck is pretty difficult to pilot, as there are several
decisions to make each turn, and I would be willing to wager
that I still make mistakes while playing the deck.
Every battle phase you have to decide which Gladiator Beast
you want to search for (if you tag out at all, sometimes it
is correct not to, if they obviously have Solemn Warning.).
You also have to know the correct spells and traps to set
face down on a given turn, based on what your opponent has
(and being able to read what cards they have). This
can be especially difficult, due to the lack of Starlight
Road and Solemn Judgment not protecting your back row.
Starlight Road is actually a card that regularly leaves and
rejoins the deck for this reason. I think that the
Atlantean deck makes Starlight Road incorrect at this
particular moment. If I were just trying to bate
Marksman triggers, I would just play more copies of
Gladiator Beast's Respite, since I can at least recur it
with Equeste and not telegraph that I have a Stardust Dragon
clogging my extra deck.
One also has to factor in how to correctly use Test Tiger.
What do I mean use Test Tiger correctly? Factor in the
fact that you can obviously just tribute it to shuffle your
Gladiator to fetch up another friend, we know. Now,
factor in that you can exceed using it with a Gladiator
Beast Murmillo, or, a Gladiator Beast Retiari. You
play enough back row shenanigans, that there are times you
can ride a Zenmaines or Leviathan Dragon to the finish line.
For anybody that is curious, these are the cards that I have
tested in the deck and found to be sub-optimal, or, think
are poorly positioned in the meta-game right now (note that
the deck didn't always have the Rescue Rabbit Engine).
Maindeck:
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
Extra deck:
Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
Side Deck (only):
Gemini Imps
Some of the cards are obviously better than others, but, I
was working at trying new things and I'm trying to become
more open-minded in my testing. Innovation doesn't
come from doing the same things everyone else is. Just
remember, cards like Solemn Judgment, Cold Wave, and Rescue
cat YEARS to go from fringe-playable to completely broken.
If you have any questions about the deck, wanna try playing
against it, or keep up with my updates to the deck, stay in
touch! I'm pretty easy to get ahold of and love
talking about the game. I plan to pick up writing more
and will hopefully become a much stronger force in the game
in the months to come. Here are the easiest ways to
get in touch:
email:
andro_sphinx@yahoo.com
Thanks a ton for reading!
|
|||
|
Copyright© 1998-2010 pojo.com This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site. |
|||||